Here are the reports you should know about this month.

1. Over the past three years, a group of 19 community colleges in four states has been testing various strategies to keep low-income students in school, from offering guidance on managing their personal finances and providing referrals for basic needs such as housing, to academic and career coaching. The colleges participating in theWorking Student Success Network (WSSN) — which collaborated with the community college reform group Achieving the Dream — focused on designing integrated student services rather than a series of single, one-time services. A new study found that two approaches were particularly effective: one-on-one coaching, and creating a one-stop hub on campus where students can go to for various wraparound services.
2. A new report from the Center for Community College Student Engagement reveals that students who receive more advising are more engaged in college. Sixty-two percent of first-term students and 78 percent of returning students reported that they met with an advisor, but what matters most is the structure, content and intensity of advising, according to the report. More time with an advisor led to higher engagement.
3. The Instructional Technology Council is out with its annual survey on distance learning. While overall enrollment at colleges has decreased, enrollment in online courses increased 8 percent over last year. Also in the survey: Administrators reported that their top three challenges are adequate student services for distance learning students; space for training and technical assistance; and accessibility and universal design. In fact, according to the survey, administrators are less confident in their online courses’ compliance with ADA regulations.   The 2017 survey results found only 33 percent of respondents felt their courses were either “mostly” or “fully” compliant with Federal requirements.